When I said I’d be “back around the third” about ten or so days ago, I wasn’t thinking it was going to be a Thursday (though what day I thought it was going to be I have no idea). That said, it’s a little late in the week to be starting up any serious project. […]
READ ONSo now the fun part: the glazing. Of course we start with the slighty dicey part of, er, dicing them, but having chilled your cake you should be in good shape for cutting. Start by measuring out your cake to multiples of 1 1/2″ (a very nice size for homemade petits fours). Trim off any […]
READ ONAn interesting email from a reader on HFCS: I don’t think HFCS [syrups] are threatening solely because of their sweetness. As you explained, they are only “useful to the extent that they can be diluted down to approximate the taste of standard table sugar,” neither is it the fear of one glorious gobstopper that will […]
READ ONSo then, after all the hubbub about corn syrup we finally get to the nitty-gritty about what corn syrup does in a petit four glaze (fondant). And it only took me a week. If you were around for yesterday’s post about what makes corn syrup thick, you’ll remember that one of the defining characteristics of […]
READ ONThe classic topping for a petit four is a white sugar glaze. Fondant is what it’s called. What is fondant? Short answer: sugar. However it’s sugar that’s been manipulated in such a way that it’s soft and pliable instead of hard and crunchy. Fondant comes in two basic types: your rolled fondant and your poured […]
READ ONThose of you who are familiar with me know I love to do photo tutorials. In fact it can be argued that I do too many of them. But I figure, if the petits fours-making process doesn’t qualify for photography, what does? So here’s a step-by-step for all you petits fours makers-to-be. We begin with […]
READ ONA bakery I used to work for glazed their petits fours with a fructose-heavy, pre-made fondant. They were beautiful to look at, but were also, as one young customer once confided in me, “tooth-curlingly” sweet.
READ ONSo what is it about high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) that causes people to become so unglued? Personally I think many of us just don’t like the idea that commercial food makers have mastered the science of sweetness. Knowing what a powerful attractor sweetness is to human beings (especially children) we worry what kind of confectionary […]
READ ONI’m glad you asked, since few subjects are more interesting that liquid sweetner viscosity — where pourability is a factor of the uniformity of molecules. If you have a friend or family member who happens to be diabetic, you may have had occasion to see liquid glucose or even liquid fructose, which in their pure […]
READ ONOh yes my friends, we hear all about the evils of corn syrup (sometimes called glucose syrup) from the food police, especially the sinister demon-brew known as “high fructose corn syrup” (ominously initialized HFCS). Corn syrup is the packaged food industry’s most pervasive sweetner, found in everything from Coke to ketchup. And of course anything […]
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